The Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance (MoCA™) utilize the vast amounts of unused bandwidth available on in-home coaxial cable to deliver voice, video and data (triple play) without the need for new connections, wiring, point of entry devices or truck rolls. Estimates show that 70% to 90% of homes in the United States already have coaxial cable installed into the home network infrastructure. Moreover, many homes have existing coaxial cable in one or more primary entertainment consumption locations, e.g. family rooms, media rooms and master bedrooms, facilitating the deployment of triple play networks. MoCA technology allows homeowners to utilize their existing coaxial cable infrastructure as a networking system and to deliver other entertainment and information programming with high quality of service (QoS).
The technology underlying MoCA provides the vital elements necessary to distribute DVD quality entertainment throughout the home, i.e. high speed (270 mbps), high quality of service (QoS), and the innate security of a shielded, wired connection, combined with state of the art packet-level encryption. Coaxial cable is designed for carrying high bandwidth video, and is regularly used to securely deliver millions of dollars of pay per view and premium video content on a daily basis. The MoCA network can also be used as a backbone for multiple wireless access points used to extend the reach of wireless throughout a consumer's entire home.
The Home Phone Line Networking Alliance (HPNA™) provides triple-play home networking solutions for distributing entertainment data over both existing coax cable and phone lines. By providing data rates up to 320 Mbps with guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS), HPNA technology enables service providers to meet and drive the growing demand for new multimedia services, such as IPTV and VoIP to the home. HPNA technology also provides consumers with the many benefits of “no-new-wires” home networking.
The HPNA technology, building on Ethernets, allows all the components of a home network to interact over the home's existing telephone wiring without disturbing the existing voice or fax services. In the same way a LAN operates, home networking processes, manages, transports and stores information, which enables the disparate devices in a home network, such as telephones, fax machines, desktops, laptops, printers, scanners and Web cameras to connect and integrate over a home's unpredictable wiring topology.
HomePlug™ 1.0 is the specification for a technology that connects devices to each other through the power lines in a home. HomePlug-certified products connect PCs and other devices that use Ethernet, USB and 802.11 “Wi-Fi” technologies to the power line via a HomePlug “bridge” or “adapter.” Some products, such as connected audio players, even have HomePlug technology built-in. HomePlug products provide a simple solution for consumers interested in distributing connectivity around their homes without adding any new wires.
Since most electronic devices already use power outlets to receive power, the goal of the alliance was create a way that these same power outlets and electrical wires could be used to connect the devices to each other and to the Internet. Today, HomePlug networking is the only globally recognized standard for high-speed power line networking with millions of products in use on six continents.
Power outlets are the most pervasive home wiring medium. Power outlet connectivity is available worldwide, affording the use of multiple outlets in every room at a lower cost per connection point. HomePlug technology leverages existing power outlets to provide both power and connectivity. Additionally, the convenience of connecting any device through a power outlet will enable exciting new products covering entertainment, information access and telephony services.
Due to the diversity in home network technologies, i.e. coaxial cable, telephone line, and electrical wiring, conventional home network testing devices are typically dedicated to a single technology. Furthermore, a typical device attempting to analyze any one of these networks would employ a dedicated network chipset to detect and join the network.
An object of the present invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a single home network testing device for use in testing home networks with different home network technologies, while leaving the network topology intact without affecting the number of devices on the network by using the physical layer characteristics of each of the previously discussed networking technologies to provide method to determine the presence and health of the network.